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Detroit Free Press Sports Writer

So when you ask him about his offseason, he’ll tell you that he played golf in South Carolina — “I’m all right” — and that he worked on being consistent, on locating his pitches, on trying to build a good base for the season.

But the righty reliever could quietly become one of the most important pieces of the Tigers’ bullpen this season, pitching coach Jeff Jones thinks.

“He’s knocking on the door,” Jones said. “He’s done a really good job for us the last couple of years.”

Last season, while bouncing between the big leagues and Triple-A Toledo, Putkonen compiled a 3.03 ERA — third-best in the Tigers’ bullpen.

“It seems like every time he goes down to the minor leagues and comes back, he’s got more confidence,” Jones said.

But that confidence isn’t audible, not when he talks about his role — “I want to be able to help the team win. I want to help contribute,” he said before the team’s winter caravan in January — or when he talks about the gumption needed to bounce back from the minor league stints last season.

“You just get used to it,” he said. “I know what to expect now.”

This spring, Putkonen will once again compete for a bullpen spot — a spot, seemingly, he holds the inside track to — and one he will build on his up-and-down experience in baseball from.

“It’s the same game,” he said. “Whether it’s Triple-A or the big leagues, you’re trying to get the hitter out and you’re trying to help your team win.”

Whether or not he wins that bullpen job remains to be seen, but his solid work the past two seasons — which began by being thrust into duty as a rookie at Yankee Stadium in 2012 — could speak for itself.

But the 27-year-old from North Carolina isn’t stressing about the future.

“I won’t try to think about it too much,” he said. “I just try to compete and do my job.”

And for the Tigers bullpen this season, just competing and doing his job might be enough to keep his address at Comerica Park for a full season for the first time.